Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2024)

Story

Themes

Human experimentation; destruction of civilisation; mutants; rebellion

Violence

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has long and violent sequences and many violent deaths, including executions and suicide. There are scenes that show blood and gore throughout the movie. For example:

• Some scenes feature battles with gunship-style helicopters and soldiers firing automatic weapons. Groups of unarmed mutant humans attack the soldiers and are killed.
• A guard punches a young man in the stomach without provocation.
• A woman talks about ‘harvesting’ (killing) a group of youths, saying that she doesn’t want them to feel any pain.
• A young man shoots a soldier with a gun that fires an electrical charge. The soldier convulses and small bolts of lightning flash over his body.
• One scene shows a partially mummified man’s body with a plastic bag over its head, sitting in a chair.
• In one scene dozens of soldiers attack a civilian compound, firing automatic weapons at the civilians. A soldier says, ‘Every last one of you will die’. Eventually the compound explodes in flames, and the roof collapses on top of soldiers and civilians.
• A man is bound to a chair with his hands tied behind his back. He is repeatedly punched in the face until his face is swollen, bruised and bloody. A man points a gun at his head, threatening to kill him.
• A girl talks about going into her sick mother’s room to find the floor covered in blood. Her mother had gouged out her own eyes to stop herself seeing disturbing visions.
• Two helicopters fire missiles into a rebel compound, destroying much of the compound and killing dozens of people. People trying to flee are shot in the back and chest. A soldier throws a grenade into a group of people, causing an electrical charge to engulf the group with bolts of lightning. An unarmed female doctor who had surrendered is shot in the stomach by a soldier. A pool of blood forms on the woman’s clothing before she collapses to the ground. Rather than surrender to the soldiers, some young men threaten to kill themselves by exploding a bomb.
• A later scene shows images of dozens of dead bodies lying on the ground covered with blankets.

Sexual references

None of concern

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials shows some use of substances. For example:

• A teenage boy is injected with what’s called ‘a co*cktail of vitamins’.
• A doctor injects a teenage girl with a cure for a virus.
• A man coaxes an older teenage boy and girl to drink liquid from a flask so they can get into a dance club. After drinking the liquid the couple start to act like they’re drunk. They have hallucinations of monsters before they pass out.

Nudity and sexual activity

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has some sexual activity. For example, one scene shows a group of young people dancing. A teenage girl wraps her arms around the neck of the boy she is dancing with and kisses him passionately on the mouth.

Product placement

None of concern

Coarse language

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is the second instalment in the Maze Runner series of science fiction action movies based on James Dashner's best-selling young adult novels. The end of the movie is a real cliffhanger, aimed at leaving the audience hungry for the third movie in the series.

This movie deserves its M rating. It has even more intense violence, blood and gore, and scary images and characters than the first movie in the series. The movie is likely to be very disturbing for children. It’s unsuitable for young children and isn’t recommended for anyone under 15.

These are the main messages from this movie:

• Friendship and freedom are worth fighting and dying for.
• Sacrificing the lives of a few people to save the lives of many isn’t OK.

This movie cold you the chance to talk with your children about the following issues:

• Cooperation and trust: throughout the movie a group of young people must work together and trust each other to survive.
• Self-sacrifice: several of the main characters risk their own lives to protect their friends.